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What happened in history on this day: May 21?
On May 21 in ...
- 1788 - James Jarvis & Co. delivers 400,000 Fugio cents to the national government.
- 1819 - First bicycles (swift walkers) in US introduced in New York City.
- 1832 - First Democratic National Convention (Baltimore).
- 1856 - Lawrence, Kansas, is captured and sacked by pro-slavery forces.
- 1863 - Siege on Port Hudson, Louisiana, begins.
- 1864 - General David Hunter takes command of Department of West Virginia.
- 1881 - In Washington, D.C., humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross.
- 1898 - US Assay Office in Seattle, Washington, is authorized.
- 1914 - Greyhound Bus Company begins in Minnesota.
- 1918 - US House of Representatives passes amendment allowing women to vote.
- 1927 - (10:22 PM) American pilot Charles Lindbergh in the Spirit of St. Louis monoplane lands at Le Bourget airfield near Paris, France, after first solo air crossing of Atlantic (33 hours 30 minutes).
- 1929 - Automatic electric stock quotation board installed, New York City.
- 1934 - Oskaloosa, Iowa becomes first US city to fingerprint its citizens.
- 1941 - First US ship sunk by a German submarine (SS Robin Moore).
- 1944 - Adolf Hitler begins attack on English/US "terror pilots".
- 1946 - Physicist Louis Plotin is fatally irradiated during the Demon Core incident at Los Alamos.
- 1954 - American amendment to give 18-year-olds right to vote is defeated.
- 1956 - US explodes first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll.
- 1958 - US performs nuclear test at Bikini Island (atmospheric tests).
- 1961 - Governor Patterson declares martial law in Montgomery, Alabama, USA.
- 1964 - First nuclear-powered lighthouse begins operations (Chesapeake Bay).
- 1964 - US begin intelligence flights above Laos.
- 1965 - US Senator Alan Bible of Nevada introduces a bill that would give the Treasury Secretary the power to dictate what coins could be traded at a premium. It would also prohibit exportation of US coins, prohibit the melting of silver coins by unauthorized persons, outlaw unreasonable hoarding of coins, and outlaw buying or selling non-rare coins at more than face value.
- 1970 - US National Guard mobilized to quell disturbances at Ohio State University.
- 1971 - National Guard mobilized to quell riot in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA.
- 1981 - Kim Seelbrede of Ohio is crowned 30th Miss USA.
- 1984 - Atari introduces the Atari 7800 ProSystem video game system. It features higher resolution graphics than the Atari 5200, optional keyboard to make it a home computer, and compatibility with Atari 2600 cartridges. Price is US$149.
- 1986 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1988 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1992 - New Jersey senate overrides Governor Florio's veto and lowers sales tax to 6 percent.
- 1993 - Dayanara Torres, 18, of Puerto Rico, crowned 42nd Miss Universe.
- 1996 - Auctions by Bowers and Merena sells the Louis Eliasberg US 1913 Liberty Head nickel for US$1.485 million, a record for a single coin at auction.
- 1998 - At Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, Kipland Kinkel (who was suspended for bringing a gun to school) shoots a semi-automatic rifle into a room filled with students, killing two and wounding 25 others, after killing his parents at home.
- 1998 - In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.
- 2001 - The US Mint releases the 2001 Rhode Island quarter dollar to circulation.
- 2002 - The US State Department releases a report naming seven state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.
- 2008 - U.S. crude oil price passes US$130 per barrel, rising $5 above the previous day to a record high of US$134.
- 2020 - The U.S. announces it will withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty within six months, alleging continuous violations by Russia.
Births on May 21
- 1872 - Birth of Henry Warren in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; inventor (Telechon electric clock).
- 1887 - Birth of Mabel Taliaferro in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Sentimental Tommy, My Love Come Back).
- 1898 - Birth of Armand Hammer in New York City, New York, USA; millionaire industrialist (Occidental Petroleum).
- 1899 - Birth of Ralph Sanford in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA; actor (Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp).
- 1901 - Birth of Horace Heidt in Alameda, California, USA; orchestra leader (Ship of Joy radio show, Answers by the Dancers radio show, Anniversary Night with Horace Heidt radio show, Pot of Gold radio show, Tums Treasure Chest radio show, Horace Heidt's Original Youth Opportunity Program radio and TV show, The Swift Show Wagon with Horace Heidt TV show, American Way TV show).
- 1904 - Birth of Thomas Waller AKA Fats Waller in New York City, New York, USA; pianist and songwriter ("Honeysuckle Rose", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Blue Turning Grey Over You").
- 1904 - Birth of Robert Montgomery in Beacon, New York, USA; actor/director (Robert Montgomery Presents TV show (1950-56), Earl of Chicago, Yellow Jack).
- 1916 - Birth of Harold Robbins in New York City, New York, USA; author (Moneychangers, Carpetbaggers, Betsy).
- 1917 - Birth of Dennis Day in New York City, New York, USA; comic actor/singer ("Danny Boy", Jack Benny Show radio show, Dennis Day Show radio show, Benny Show TV show).
- 1924 - Birth of Peggy Cass in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; actress/TV panelist (Mame movie and play, Tonight Show TV show, To Tell the Truth TV show, The Hathaways TV show).
- 1924 - Birth of Robert Parris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; composer (Book of Imaginary Beings).
- 1926 - Birth of Rick Jason in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Day of the Wolves, Eagles Attack at Dawn, Case of the Dangerous Robin TV show, Combat! TV show, Matt Houston TV show, Police Woman TV show, Murder She Wrote TV show, Wonder Woman TV show, Fantasy Island TV show, Airwolf TV show, Dallas TV show, The Young and the Restless TV show).
- 1926 - Birth of Robert Creeley in Massachusetts, USA; poet/novelist (The Island).
- 1929 - Birth of Charles Wadsworth in Barnesville, Georgia, USA; pianist (Lincoln Center).
- 1933 - Birth of Richard Libertini in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; actor (Soap, Ghost).
- 1938 - Birth of David Groh in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (Joe - Rhoda, Don - Another Day).
- 1941 - Birth of Ronald Isley in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; singer (Isley Brothers - "Twist and Shout").
- 1945 - Birth of Richard Hatch in Santa Monica, California, USA; actor (Battlestar Galactica).
- 1952 - Birth of Mr T AKA Lawrence Tero in Chicago, Illinois, USA; actor (The A-Team TV show, Rocky III movie, T and T).
- 1955 - Birth of Stan Lynch in Gainesville, Florida, USA; rock drummer (Tom Petty and Heartbreakers).
- 1957 - Birth of Judge Reinhold in Wilmington, Delaware, USA; actor (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Beverly Hills Cop, Secret Service Guy, Redemption High).
- 1957 - Birth of Sue Woodstra in Colton, California, USA; volleyball player (Olympics-silver-1984).
- 1960 - Birth of Mark Kevin Carnevale in Annapolis, Maryland, USA; PGA golfer (1992 Chattanooga).
- 1964 - Birth of Tom Harding in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA; Canadian Tour golfer (1991 Transamerica).
- 1967 - Birth of Cindy Haley in Tyler, Texas, USA; LPGA golfer (1987 Texas Amateur-second).
- 1970 - Birth of Scott "Munnster" Munn in Larkspur, California, USA; rower (Olympics-1996).
- 1971 - Birth of Jeff Stavroff in Columbus, Ohio, USA; Canadian Tour golfer (1994 Space Coast-4).
- 1972 - Birth of Liliko Ogasawara in Englewood, New Jersey, USA; middleweight judoka (Olympics-1996).
- 1978 - Birth of Kandy Marshall; Miss Virginia Teen USA (1996).
Deaths on May 21
- 1935 - Jane Addams, a founder of ACLU (Nobel Prize 1973), dies at age 65.
- 1995 - Les Aspin, US Secretary of Defense (1993-95), dies of stroke at age 56.
- 2000 - Death of Mark R. Hughes, American entrepreneur and founder of Herbalife (born 1956).
- 2006 - Death of Billy Walker at age 77 in a single-vehicle crash near Montgomery, Alabama; country singer ("Charlie's Shoes" (1966), "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Cross the Brazos at Waco" (1964)).
- 2009 - Linda Fleming, 66-year-old US woman with advanced cancer, becomes the first person to die under a new assisted suicide law in Washington State.
- 2016 - Death of Nick Menza, German-born American drummer (Megadeth) (born 1964).
- 2022 - Death of Colin Cantwell at age 90; American designer (X-Wing and Death Star in Star Wars movie).
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